Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Monday, January 14, 2013

"50 Shades of Grey" Musical Takes Broadway

Just when it seemed Fifty Shades fever had subsided, a sold-out, off-Broadway spoof of the bestselling behemoth heated up the Gramercy Theater in Manhattan this weekend. Lizzie Crocker checks it out.

Fifty Shades of Grey is now a musical! (Will Oliver/AFP/Getty)

It’s safe to say that E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey has permeated every niche of our culture, not to mention put women everywhere in touch with their inner goddesses. Perhaps we should have seen it coming, then, that the self-published “mommy porn” trilogy turned global literary sensation would make its way to the stage

After earning rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in Chicago, “50 Shades! The Musical,” a spoof of the erotica novel, played to sold-out audiences in New York and New Jersey this weekend. Created by the Chicago-based improv ensemble Baby Wants Candy, the show centers on a book club of middle-aged housewives giggling over the sweaty saga of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey.

The whole thing comes to life in the form of a very sweaty, potbellied Mr. Grey, a hilariously daft Miss Steele, a few scantily clad dancers, and three horny housewives belting out original slapstick show tunes (“There’s a Hole Inside of Me,” “I Don’t Make Love, I F#*!, and nine others) that celebrate the book’s raunchiness while lampooning its main charactersFull piece